In many wellbore applications, it is desirable to make parameter measurements in specific zones, such as a treatment zone. For example, measurements of pressure, temperature and/or vibration in or close to a production interval can provide valuable data from which the performance of the well and the efficacy of treatment operations can be analyzed. Obtaining such data, however, has proved to be problematic.
For example, some well production and well treatment operations utilize coiled tubing deployed into a wellbore. Sensors can be deployed externally of the coiled tubing, but this creates operational problems in that it often is necessary or desirable to maintain a constant outside diameter of the coiled tubing so that it may be inserted through an appropriate stuffing box. For other types of well operations, coiled tubing has been designed with control lines extending along the coiled tubing interior or through a port in a wall of the coiled tubing. Such control lines, however, cannot be used to obtain desired parameter measurements along a specific well zone because the placement does not provide sufficient exposure to external well fluids. Attempts also have been made to place sensors in downhole equipment, such as bottom hole assemblies, but this approach only allows measurement of well related parameters in the vicinity of the downhole equipment.